Mesh Wheels

by peas Sun 19 Jun 2016, 10:37 pm

Anyone have a mouse that prefers mesh wheels?

2 of mine aren't big runners, they'll run a normal amount but it's more due to boredom than it is pleasure. My other mouse, runs cause she loves it.

All my mice, all my mice ever except one have preferred Comfort wheels to saucer wheels though saucers get used just not as much. I've only tried a mesh wheel with one mouse and he didn't care for it as much. I am thinking about trying again, that wheel is gone though.

Does anyone have any experience with their mice clearly preferring a mesh wheel? Does it happen? Space is limited and the only brand i can seem to find around here had some issues with it, so i am wary about trying it again. Though if there is a decent enough chance it will be the missing ingredient for my "rather chew and climb" set i would give it another go.

by scaredymouse Sun 19 Jun 2016, 10:47 pm

all of my mice really enjoy the 8" mesh wheel. I think most of them prefer it. In both of my mouse tanks, I have the mesh wheels and saucers. My boy goes back and forth equally. But my girls spend more time on the mesh, probably because they can play so much and spin each other around in circles. They are made really crappy though. I usually get mine off amazon but I've never seen one that is made well. They are all janky, misshapen, and squeaky! But the kids love 'em

by peas Sun 19 Jun 2016, 10:52 pm

Have they tried comfort wheels? Maybe they only prefer mesh to saucers, and as i have stated i have found saucers to be the least popular.

Yeah maybe there is only one company that makes them. The two i have bought, one i got replaced, were all janky. The issue wasn't even that, it was the paint, i had black goo oozing out of it NO MATTER how many times i washed it.

by scaredymouse Sun 19 Jun 2016, 10:55 pm

I had a comfort wheel for my ham but I didn't like that wheel. A lot. So, I never bought any more. I also have silent spinners that they like but they really love doing loop de loops in the mesh wheel. it makes me nervous, but they love it.

by Peachy Sun 19 Jun 2016, 11:15 pm

Mesh wheels seem to be a favorite for my mice. Only a few of them have even bothered with saucer wheels, they usually get buried. The comfort wheel was generally accepted, but my current girls chewed a piece off and now it doesn't hold correctly. Grr! My fourth mouse refused to use her comfort wheel though, so I bought her a mesh one and she loved it. Might be worth a try.

by Brynne Mon 20 Jun 2016, 1:14 am

5 of my 6 does prefer upright wheels over saucers. They use both mesh and plastic- each would rather run on her own wheel if provided, the material is not the most important consideration for her.
Zeldah is a hardcore saucer addict.

To anyone buying a new mesh wheel: Definitely buy mesh wheels in person from a shop if possible. They need to be inspected for sharp edges, missing mesh, bending that can't be pushed back into shape, etc. Ordering online yields random wheels that often have problems.

Luckily, I've never had mesh wheel that squeaked as long as I kept it oiled.

by MouseLover Mon 20 Jun 2016, 6:57 am

I don't think I've ever seen a mesh wheel in my local pet shops. They tend to sell comfort wheel types, silent spinners or saucer wheels. Some of my mice prefer the regular wheel, while others have preferred the saucer. Generally I'd say the flying saucer is the most popular in my house Smile

by essentiallysue Mon 20 Jun 2016, 8:06 am

I use Silent Spinner wheels. I keep two in the cage during the day, and four at night. It's great to sleep with four wheels spinning all night! They get dirty and I just exchange a clean one for the dirty ones while I clean them. Just have to be careful that it isn't occupied when I take out the wheels. LOL White mice, you know.

by CallaLily Mon 20 Jun 2016, 11:50 am

My first group of girls strongly preferred the silent spinner, except Bacon who preferred the flying saucer. Daryl didn't seem to be too into any wheel. Hazel loves loves loves the mesh wheel. She will use others but if she had the choice, it's always the mesh. She's my most active runner so far. Celyn and Rina prefer the flying saucer. Seren, like Daryl, isn't overly crazy about any of them.

Edit: About squeaky mesh wheels. This is something I struggled with at first. I was oiling it with olive oil and it only helped for about an hour. But I found coconut oil works much better, lasting through til cleaning. Not sure what's so different to make it work better but I'm not complaining. Laughing